Asperger’s disorder

Pervasive developmental disorder believed to be a mild form of autism in which social relationships are poor and stereotyped behavior is intense and rigid, but language and intelligence are intact.

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

A disorder in children marked by difficulties in focusing adaptively on the task at hand, inappropriate fidgeting and antisocial behavior, and excessive non-goal-directed behavior.

autistic disorder

Pervasive developmental disorder in which the child’s world is one of profound aloneness: speech is often absent, and the child has an obsessive need for everything to remain the same.

childhood disintegrative disorder

Pervasive developmental disorder characterized by significant loss of social, play, language, and motor skills after the second year of life, with abnormalities in social interaction and communication similar to autism.

communication disorders

Learning disabilities in a child who fails to develop to the degree expected by his or her intellectual level in a specific language skill area; include expressive language disorder, phonological disorder, and stuttering.

conduct disorder

Pattern of extreme disobedience in youngsters, including theft, vandalism, lying, and early drug use; may be precursor of antisocial personality disorder.

developmental psychopathology

The field that studies disorders of childhood within the context of normal lifespan development.

disorder of written expression

Difficulties writing without errors in spelling, grammar, or punctuation.

Down syndrome (trisomy 21)

echolalia

The immediate or delayed repetition of the words of others, often found in autistic children.

expressive language disorder

Communication disorder of childhood involving difficulties expressing thoughts and emotions in speech.

externalizing disorders

Domain of childhood disorders characterized by outward-directed behaviors, such as aggressiveness, noncompliance, overactivity, and impulsiveness; the category includes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder.

fragile X syndrome

Malformation (or even breakage) of the X chromosome, associated with moderate mental retardation; symptoms include large, underdeveloped ears, a long, thin face, a broad nasal root, and enlarged testicles in males, as well as attention deficits and hyperactivity in many cases.

internalizing disorders

Domain of childhood disorders characterized by inward-focused experiences and behaviors, such as depression, social withdrawal, and anxiety; the category includes childhood anxiety and mood disorders.

learning disability

learning disorders

A set of developmental disorders encompassing dyslexia, mathematics disorder, and disorder of written expression; characterized by failure to develop in a specific academic area to the degree expected by the child’s intellectual level.

mathematics disorder

Learning disorder characterized by difficulty recalling arithmetic facts, counting objects, and aligning numbers in columns.

mental retardation

Subnormal intellectual functioning associated with impairment in adaptive behavior and identified at an early age.

motor skills disorder

A learning disability characterized by marked impairment in the development of motor coordination that is not accounted for by a physical disorder such as cerebral palsy.

multisystemic treatment (MST)

Treatment for serious juvenile offenders that involves delivering intensive and comprehensive therapy services in the community, targeting the adolescent, the family, the school, and, in some cases, the peer group, in ecologically valid settings and using varied techniques.

oppositional defiant disorder

An externalizing disorder of children marked by high levels of disobedience to authority but lacking the extremes of conduct disorder.

parental management training (PMT)

Behavioral program in which parents are taught to modify their responses to their children so that prosocial rather than antisocial behavior is consistently rewarded.

pervasive developmental disorders

Severe childhood conditions, encompassing autistic disorder, Rett’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and Asperger’s disorder, marked by profound disturbances in social relations and oddities in behavior.

phenylketonuria (PKU)

A genetic deficiency in a liver enzyme, phenylalanine hydroxylase, that causes severe mental retardation unless phenylalanine can be largely restricted from the diet.

phonological disorder

Communication disorder in childhood in which some words sound like baby talk because the person is not able to make certain speech sounds.

pronoun reversal

A speech problem in which the child refers to himself or herself as “he,” “she,” or “you” and uses “I” or “me” in referring to others; often found in the speech of children with autistic disorder.

A learning disorder involving significant difficulty with word recognition, reading comprehension, and (typically) spelling.

Rett’s disorder

A very rare pervasive developmental disorder found only in girls, with onset in the first or second year of life; symptoms include decelerated head growth, lost ability to use hands purposefully, uncoordinated walking, poor speech production and comprehension, and poor interpersonal relations. The child may improve later in life, but usually will remain severely or profoundly mentally retarded.

school phobia

An acute, irrational dread of attending school, usually accompanied by somatic complaints; the most common phobia of childhood.

Communication disorder of childhood marked by frequent and pronounced verbal dysfluencies, such as repetitions of certain sounds.